Sometimes you’ll see bread with lots of pretty slashes in the crust, or even whole works of art. This isn’t just decorative; it’s important to score your bread. As the yeasts expand in the oven, the increasing amount of gas needs somewhere to go, an escape route. If you didn’t create a pathway with a score, it would blow up from the sides or the bottom of the loaf. So when you’re scoring, you’re dictating where the bread will split or grow. This way, you’re in charge of its beauty.

Use a lame and a razor blade. Hold the lame delicately in between your thumb and first two fingers. Score the dough quickly and decisively, using the corner of the blade. You want to keep almost flat against the bread, maybe at a 10- to 15-degree angle. You’re just slashing the “skin” open a bit not carving a deep gulley. Keeping the depth even on every score is important, too; remember, you’re creating pathways for the gases to escape, so the more evenly the scores go across the loaf, the more consistent the crumb and texture of the bread will be. This is something you will learn over time, but if your bread is looking slightly underproofed (relatively lifeless and flat) that day, you should score deep, and if it’s looking slightly overproofed (too puffy or marshmallowy), you should score shallow.